2 SWORD OF THE LORD May 13 , 2022
Obedience to the Lord should be our agenda whether or not men approve of us .
When Christians Faint , Falter and Fail , Our Country Starts to Fade
Summer Weather Is Finally Here !
It seemed to me that the warm weather was slow to arrive this year , but I ’ m convinced it is finally here . Although spring and fall are interesting and each is beautiful in its own way , I like the summer - time best of all . I know that some of you are winter loyalists and I do understand your fascination with it .
During the first four months of 2022 I made 14 preaching trips . In Senoia and Jonesboro in Georgia ; Madison , Alabama ; Dunnellon , Ocala and Ormond Beach in Flor - ida ; Lyles , Tennessee ; Imperial , California ; Orion , Saginaw and Ca - dillac in Michigan ; Mount Union , Pennsyl vania ; Mesquite , Texas and Massillon , Ohio — in 14 cities in nine states — we have enjoyed the sweet blessings of the Lord .
We have seen a lot of folks frequenting the altars in service after service , yielding themselves to a closer walk with the Lord . I ’ m very thankful for every opportunity that a microphone is handed to me and I have the privilege to stand before people as an ambas - sador for the Lord . In these 14 meetings I preached 42 times . I ’ m rejoicing and praising the Lord for His goodness to us .
Defeatism Never Wins Anything , Anywhere , Anytime
In this old world where the Devil runs amok creating hurt , heartache and havoc , you need not be sur - prised that difficulties develop along the way . It is not just you in your town . All of us hit snags , get sideswiped and experience set - backs .
If you are not living on full alert , those difficulties will drag discour - agement into your life and dump it on you . At the very first sign of discouragement , you need to sound an alarm . Go ahead and serve notice . Put out a No Vacancy sign . You simply must not give discour - agement a place to lodge . You do not need it , not in your personal life and not in your church .
Discouragement is never going to be satisfied with itself . Given time and space to work , it will spawn a spirit of defeatism that will be catastrophic .
A defeated person says , “ It can ’ t be done ” and with that attitude nothing gets done . Defeatism and all of its cousins never win at any - thing . They are stuck with a bad spirit that holds them back and keeps them down indefinitely .
So let ’ s take note and then take action . Basic fact number one is : Everybody will have difficulties . We may not be able to stem the tide of those issues , but discour - agement and defeatism are things we can handle . We can and we must handle them . Believing the Word of God and claiming the power of God for doing both the will of God and the work of God should get us up and running and that right soon .
Quitters Are Not Winners ; Winners Are Not Quitters
I ’ ve heard it said ( and wish I had been the one who said it ) that “ Winners never quit and quitters never win !” Although I ’ m convinced that is true , a lot of people seem not to understand it .
Some of the popular , contem - porary writers have turned sour on preaching . They advocate that the preacher should be totally conversational and never project his voice in the pulpit . They think that he should avoid being what they call “ preachy .” Consequently , a lot of them who used to be preachers have given in and quit preaching ( even though they still have the microphone ).
Others have said , “ Soul winning doesn ’ t work ,” so they quit going soul winning .
A lot of the quitting crowd have quit Sunday school and quit Sunday night services .
They have quit their bus routes , quit passing out literature , quit calling on visitors and quit a lot of other things that they should have kept doing .
On the other hand , whether or not we are as successful as we wish we were , we should not quit .
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Christians with spiritual discern - ment have been alarmed about the drift in America especially from 1960 onward . In recent months that alarm has spread to a lot of other people . As I talk to people in the airports and other venues where I go , everybody is concerned . The people are seeing that a lot has gone wrong and they are feeling panic about the future .
The atheists , the humanists , the agnostics , the socialists , the liberals and even the conservatives are not going to resolve the situation and save the nation .
“ Blessed is that nation whose God is the LORD ” ( Ps . 33:12 ) is the solution . We must trumpet that truth . We must build with people who believe that . We must not cave to the “ it can ’ t be done ” crowd . Our testimony , our preaching and our influence must not be silenced . We must revisit the direction of our Lord and recapture the spirit of those early New Testament Christians .
Time is of the essence . Let ’ s not yawn through the struggle . Let ’ s stand up and give a full-volume voice to the great eternal truths that our Lord has given us .
Our nation needs us . This gener - ation needs us . So let ’ s utilize the warmth of these summer days and give ourselves afresh to our scripturally-mandated tasks .
Sunday in Saginaw , Michigan , Sheridan Road Baptist Church
On Easter Sunday it was my privilege to preach for Pastor Keith Williams at Sheridan Road Baptist Church , Saginaw , Michigan .
I had been to Sheridan Road Baptist Church on three other occasions when Pastor Lou Jurva was here . He retired in 2020 and led the church in a good transi - tion to Brother Williams .
The church is located in a semirural neighborhood on the south edge of Saginaw . Their facilities and grounds are spacious and well groomed .
The choir did a fifteen-minute presentation of resurrection music before I preached . I preached on “ The Resurrection Realities .”
I also taught the auditorium Bible class and preached Sunday night .
Brother Williams and I enjoyed some very good fellowship as he came to Detroit ( two-hour drive ) to pick me up on Saturday and then he drove me on north to Cadillac ( two-hour drive ) for my Monday and Tuesday meetings .
Changing leadership is always a time of concern in any church but especially after a long-term pastor - ate . Brother Jurva had been here 23 years , but he and Brother Williams have worked together in a strongly harmonious way . The church family has responded in similar fashion and things are moving forward .
If you live in the Saginaw area and if you want to be in a good , solid church , let me recommend that you go soon and pay a visit to Sheridan Road Baptist Church . I believe you will be blessed and like what you find .
Faith Baptist Church , Cadillac , Michigan
On Monday and Tuesday after Resurrection Sunday , I was with Dr . Jayson Godsey at the Faith
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Man Asks Deputies to Test His Meth — They Did !
Authorities in Hernando County , Florida , couldn ’ t believe their ears last [ month ] when one resident called 911 with undoubtedly one of the strangest requests they had ever received .
… An adult man called police dispatchers to request that deputies come to his Spring Hill home to “ test the methamphetamine ” he had recently purchased from his drug dealer , police said .
…[ He ] was apparently suspicious that his dealer had cheated him by selling him “ fake ” meth — and he was eager to see if his hypothesis was correct .…
… Deputies performed a field test on the samples and …[ it ] came back positive for meth .
Deputies arrested … him … and … he is currently being held at a Hernando County Detention Center on a $ 7,000 bond .
— theblaze . com
EDITOR ’ S COMMENTS : The illegal drug traffic nationwide is making zombies out of people . It is also killing tens of thousands of our citizens every year . The drug cartels have easy access to the USA because our southern border is porous and open .
Beautiful Santa Barbara Acting Ugly Over Chick-fil-A Popularity
When driving along State Street in Santa Barbara , California , on any given weekday or Saturday afternoon , it ’ s not uncommon to see a long line of cars outside Chick-fil-A .…
But if the city has its way , the immensely popular chain restaurant may soon be ordered to halt its drive-through business altogether .
… Various city agencies ordered a public hearing on the matter and recommended that the city council take a specific course of action : “ Declare that a public nuisance exists at 3707 State Street and direct abatement of the nuisance by cessation of use of the drive-thru facility .”…
… Since 2013 — when Chick-fil-A moved in — there have been six rear-end and side-swipe accidents … caused by vehicles “ stopped in road ” near the drive-through .
But some think the city ’ s beef is not so much about traffic but more about the national chain ’ s political views .…
“ I really detested them for their social positions ,” [ Ronda Hobbs ] told the Santa Barbara Independent … referring to Chick-fil-A ’ s history of donating to pro-traditional-marriage charities .…
Regardless of the motivation , the issue is set to be considered at the June 7 public hearing .… The California Globe noted that if a decision is ultimately made to shut down Chick-fil-A ’ s drive-through , multiple lawsuits will undoubtedly follow .
— theblaze . com
EDITOR ’ S COMMENTS : Santa Barbara is one of California ’ s most beautiful cities , but the liberals who call it home are going ugly against Chick-fil-A . We will follow this developing story in hopes that the folks in the drive-through lines will show up at the hearing on June 7 .
Mississippi Bans CRT in Tax-Funded Schools
Another state has dealt proponents of critical race theory a blow in their effort to indoctrinate students at all levels .
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves ( R ) has signed into law a bill that bans teaching critical race theory ( CRT ) in publicly funded institutions of learning . The bill was supported by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy — and Douglas Carswell , who serves as president of the Center , tells AFN [ American Family News ] why they backed it .
“ We did a report in October that looked very carefully at what was being taught in Mississippi classrooms and in universities ,” says Carswell , “ and we found clear evidence that this extremist , divisive ideology is being promoted . It is being pushed .”
… According to Carswell , the Marxist-like ideology was found in every level of education in Mississippi ’ s educational community .
“ The Mississippi Department of Education specifically recommends that teachers in Mississippi use teaching resources that promote this extremist ideology ,” Carswell continues . “ We found evidence of courses in publicly funded universities in Mississippi where this dogma and this ideology are very prevalent .”
The new state law bars “ students to affirm , or teachers to teach , that any sex , race , ethnicity , religion , color , or national origin is inherently superior or inferior .” It does not prevent the teaching of American history nor the history of the Civil Rights Movement .
— Charlie Butts , Jody Brown on gopusa . com
EDITOR ’ S COMMENTS : Critical race theory is a Marxist philosophy that is designed to facilitate unrest and promote division in society . We know there are racial issues with some people ; but we also know that preaching the red , yellow , black , brown and white message of the New Testament will solve such problems anywhere and everywhere . We salute the state of Mississippi for not allowing the racist agenda of CRT to be used .
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